Main Street Electrical Parade to end run at Walt Disney World; return to Disneyland
by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix, staff writer
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Through a pair of Disney Parks Blogs postings Wednesday evening, Disney made a big announcement regarding the Main Street Electrical Parade. The two posts—one aimed at the Walt Disney World visitor, the other at the Disneyland fan—have subtle differences, but combined, do very little to quell the endless speculation over the long-term fate of two popular nighttime spectaculars.
The announcement out of Walt Disney World shares that the Main Street Electrical Parade will end its most recent run at the Magic Kingdom on October 9, 2016. The current version of the parade has been in Florida since 2010, where it was shipped for a "limited engagement."
The Disneyland announcement provided the additional details that the Main Street Electrical Parade would return to Disneyland park (not Disney California Adventure), for a "limited-time encore engagement" in 2017. Prior to that, the Paint the Night parade, which Disney had previously announced would end its 60th Anniversary engagement on September 5, will return on select nights during the holiday season. There has been rampant online speculation that Paint the Night would be shipped to Walt Disney World, but in response to a reader question, Disneyland's Erin Glover said, "Future plans have not yet been determined, but at this time there are no plans to bring 'Paint the Night' to Walt Disney World Resort."
So what we now know is that the Main Street Electrical Parade is leaving Walt Disney World and returning to Disneyland for an as-yet-unspecified encore engagement in 2017. Paint the Night is not heading to Florida next month, and will still be on Disneyland property through the end of 2016. After that, future plans are a mystery.
This news is a real mixed bag for Disney fans on both coasts. For Walt Disney World visitors, it means the end of nighttime parades in the Magic Kingdom for the announced future. True, there are still the Halloween and Christmas parades offered during the added-cost holiday parties, but nothing for visitors who don't shell out the extra money to attend those events.
For Disneyland fans, it means swapping, for some unknown period of time, the still-new Paint the Night parade for a parade that's definitely showing its age. Twitter commentator @westcoasternet said, "Ever hear a Tesla owner say 'I'm gonna trade this in and get a 1986 Hyundai'? Didn't think so, but that's what DL just got."
Ever hear a Tesla owner say "I'm gonna trade this in and get a 1986 Hyundai"? Didn't think so, but that's what DL just got.
— Jim Disney (@westcoasternet) August 11, 2016
I'd say this is more like trading in a Tesla for a DeLorean. The DeLorean was a groundbreaking vehicle when it debuted, and will forever have a place in automotive history. But if you were to offer me the keys to my choice of those two vehicles for my everyday use, I'm taking the Tesla.
Based on the reaction on social media, there are thousands upon thousands of MSEP fans who are giddy about this news. I truly wish I could join them in their glee. The Main Street Electrical Parade plays a very prominent role in my Disneyland memories—both my very first, as well as my most treasured. When the parade famously had its "farewell season" at Disneyland in 1996, I was there for most of that summer and fall to watch the final performances. I joined the throng of people who followed the last float to the parade gates after the final public performance, and collected the lightbulbs Disney later packaged and sold to collectors. MSEP is the parade of my childhood, and I treasure it.
However, the parade will be 40 years old when it returns to Main Street, U.S.A. Its technology is painfully dated when compared to more recent parades like Paint the Night, SpectroMagic, Dreamlights, and—dare I say it—even Light Magic.
But maybe this is all part of the plan. It may be that the only way Disney could permanently retire MSEP is to bring it back home, let the fans say farewell one last time, and finally give it the Ol' Yeller treatment. Disneyland gets a marketing hook and attendance hook during an otherwise slow season, fans get a chance to say goodbye, and everyone feels better when it's all over.
Still, what of Paint the Night? I'd argue that this parade truly is the heir to the Main Street Electrical Parade, and belongs at Disneyland. Walt Disney World has a poor history of returning things "borrowed" from Disneyland (MSEP, Walt's office, the Lion King Celebration floats), so I'd like to keep Paint the Night in California, thankyouverymuch. Of course, I do wonder how much storage room the parade barns really have—is there room for Paint the Night, A Christmas Fantasy Parade, Mickey's Soundsational Parade, and the Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland? Will one of those parades go to Disney California Adventure to share a room with the Pixar Play Parade? The logistics of all of this fascinate me.
But, back to Walt Disney World. The Florida resort deserves a shiny new night parade, too. WDW fans have long pined for the return of SpectroMagic, that park's classic nighttime parade. The parade went on hiatus in 2010 when the Main Street Electrical Parade began its current run, and was confirmed by Disney to be "retired" in 2013 after reports surfaced of the destruction of the parade floats. Just as Paint the Night was created to be the new Electrical Parade for Disneyland, Disney needs to design a new-and-improved SpectroMagic for the Magic Kingdom.
Just, hands off our parade, OK, Florida? Or at least send us something to hold as collateral for the timely return of Paint the Night. I'm sure DCA could put the Festival of Dreams parade to good use.
Comments
Hey Adrienne! Thank you for all you do for us Mouse geeks. I appreciate all your hard work. But today was the first day I noticed your West Coast bias.
This article echoes my sentiments perfectly. Perfectly!! While I remember MSEP, I have no desire to have it back. In fact, I saw it at WDW in 2012 and thought "Man, this is like pulling out the old IBM". With PtN giving a fantastic hat-tip to the music of MSEP, it is the heir of night time parades and should be a part of every evening at DL throughout the year...not just during the summer and holidays.
I'm on the same page as AVP. I loved MSEP - but that's in the past like Phantom Boats, Country Bears at Disneyland, and Videopolis (ah, the 80s). I even watch the videos now and then - but with the new parade here its amazing that a business would invest so much - and then turn its usual business practice on its head for some shift. I think AVP called it right - its a last hurrah for west coasters before they shred the floats but I still worry. This whole focus by the company on the new parks (shanghai) at the expense of cash cows (disneyland) keeps a small thought in my head that PTN will leave. They can say "we have no plans" in quotes on the Park's blog, but that doesn't mean they don't have ideas in a PowerPoint.
From the article: But maybe this is all part of the plan. It may be that the only way Disney could permanently retire MSEP is to bring it back home, let the fans say farewell one last time, and finally give it the Ol' Yeller treatment. Disneyland gets a marketing hook and attendance hook during an otherwise slow season, fans get a chance to say goodbye, and everyone feels better when it's all over
I really, really hope this is the case. The first rumor I heard had PTN returning for Christmas holidays and then again next summer. It IS returning for holidays, so we can hope it would return for summer as rumored too. Maybe, just maybe the MSEP will only play from January to May and then summer can kick off with the opening of the new TOT, ROA, and train and the return of PTN. I can hope anyway!
This I worry about. Regardless of what they say, they have plans. The plans may be send it to WDW or the plans may be reinstate it at DL next summer, but I'm sure they have plans. They're just not announced and official plans. But someone knows what they want to do. It's WDW anniversary year, just make them their own parade and leave PTN alone.
It doesn't make any sense to me to bring the parade all the way back to Disneyland just to retire it there. It already had a retirement in CA.
Perhaps they figure they might as well if they need to bring the units back to CA in order to preserve them somewhere.
While most of the floats are obviously way too big to be considered, maybe one of the small bumble bee floats could go to the Disney family Museum in San Francisco to preserve a small example of this great parade.
I will miss the Electrical Parade a lot. I never tire of the patriotic Eagle and US Flag float at the end. Seeing that make it's way down the street or pass in front of one of the castles is an awesome sight! It was I suppose perfect timing that the US Bicentennial occurred shortly after this parade originated at DL. (I'm pretty sure that's when the float was added).
I vote for the turtle!
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Turtle or snail would be cool too. Bumble bee was just the first one to come to my mind as I was typing!
Count me as one of those who are delighted by this news. I agree that the technology is dated but the overall effect is not, at least for me. And that is all that matters. I don't see the need for cutting edge technology when 40 year old effects still make me smile. And have no doubts, the MSEP makes me smile from ear to ear. While LEDs are modern, I prefer the tiny light bulbs, like the ones I bought in 1996. I might tire of the MSEP someday but that day hasn't come yet.
I like Paint the Night a lot, but there are parts of that parade that I do find odd. I'm looking forward to the return of MSEP.
I have to admit, I need to stop reading comments before I read the article. At first, I thought the same thing.
But then, as a WDW regular, I came to the realization that she had a good point.
To elaborate, I love the MSEP. I loved PtN - and yes, I really wish that PtN would go to the east coast.
But then I thought - there needs to be something unique about the next WDW parade. I mean, each parade showed different technologies that were/are state of the art. The next WDW parade very well can use the different technologies that really "pluses" Paint the Night.
Now, that may sound like there is going to be a park war as to whom will have the best parade. Thats not what Im getting at. Its just that WDW needs a new parade and it sounds like DLR's parade decisions seem to be changing.. They have some new tech that can be adapted to a new parade story. As much as I wanted to see PtN one more time, and as much as my speculation wont necessarily get splattered over all the different FB pages, sometimes we have to just see how WDI is going to wow us next, regardless of park.
Just my thoughts...
Aren't they already sort of preserved? I've got my lightbulb from the first glow away
Me too.
How can they bring it back, when they sold all the bulbs?
They will come up with an "all new" promotion to allow some lucky collectors to own extra exclusive bulbs that have run down Main Street both in FL and in CA!
(Sorry, but I'm in another hobby or 2 with over the top "collectible" aspects, so I couldn't resist when I saw your comment... I hope they do NOT do that to lessen the special keepsake for those who purchased the bulbs when it left CA the last time.)
The Walt Disney Family Museum spans the lifetime of Walt Disney and is focused on his involvement with the company. The parade did not come to be until after Walt's death, so the WDFM isn't really the appropriate place.
As a DVC member who spends far more time in Florida than in California, I'm hopeful that Paint the Night will come for Florida for a bit. The MSEP, while a classic and certainly fun, needs to move on. I've seen it probably a dozen times since it returned to Florida -- and quite a few more in California -- so I'm ready for something new in the Magic Kingdom at WDW.
Since SpectroMagic (my all-time favorite parade) can't come back, Paint the Night would be a very welcome new nighttime parade for the East Coasters, at least until they come up with something new.
Very true.... that conflict in theme occurred to me after I typed my previous responses.
I still hope they can find somewhere appropriate to display some small aspect of the parade. Maybe in a corner of a gift shop or resort somewhere. Pop Century comes to mind, since that focuses on some small display elements from the decades represented. (admittedly most are not as large as a small float, aside from the icons at the ends of the buildings)
I'm not suggesting a large display or anything, just more of a small nod that people may notice and smile for those who know the history. I'm thinking along the lines of the Mr. Toad statue in the pet graveyard area of Florida's Haunted Mansion.